History Music / BigStar

With ''#1 Record'' bombing in stores thanks to Stax's horrendous distribution, [[CreativeDifferences tension and fights erupted between bandmates]], to the point that Bell left the band towards the end of 1972. Chilton, Hummel and Stephens carried on as Big Star, and – with Fry once again in the producer's chair – recorded another album, ''Radio City''. In contrast to the polished production of ''#1'', ''Radio City'' had a rawer, more chaotic and underproduced edge to it, drawing more from the Who and the Stones than the Beatles, and with more WordSaladLyrics. Sadly, ''Radio City'' bombed just as hard in stores as its predecessor, due to a dispute between Stax and its distributor Creator/ColumbiaRecords, but still managed to produce at least one classic power pop song, "September Gurls" (later covered by many artists, including Music/TheBangles). Other highlights included "O My Soul", "Back of a Car", "Daisy Glaze", and "I'm in Love with a Girl".

+Music/{{REM}}, Music/TheReplacements, Music/TheBangles, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/ThePosies, Music/ThisMortalCoil, Music/{{Wilco}}, Music/{{Kiss}}, Music/PrimalScream, Music/HisNameIsAlive, Music/TheMarsVolta

The band's classic lineup was as follows:

The band formed in 1971, when Chilton (former lead singer for the '60s blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops, of "The Letter" fame) joined Bell, Hummel and Stephens' band Icewater. Taking the name "Big Star" from a regional grocery store chain, they were quickly snatched up by Ardent Records, a subsidiary of the famous soul/R&B label Creator/StaxRecords. Stax had hit a bad spell at the time and its future was uncertain, so the hope was that Big Star would become successful enough to stave off the company's decline.

Big Star was a legendary PowerPop band from Memphis, UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}, famous for their complete failure to gain massive commercial success but being embraced by the indie scene and remaining a significant influence on AlternativeRock.

In March 2010, Chilton [[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/arts/19chilton.html died]] [[DiedDuringProduction the day before Big Star was to perform at South by Southwest]]. Immediately, the music websites of the internet exploded with grief.

Andy Hummel also died in July the same year after a two-year struggle with cancer, leaving Jody the only remaining original member of the band.

** "Big Black Car" alludes to [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex's]] [[Music/ElectricWarrior "Life's a Gas"]] with the line "Driving's a gas/It ain't gonna last".

** "Big Black Car" alludes to [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex's]] "Life's a Gas" with the line "Driving's a gas/It ain't gonna last".

* NotChristianRock: Aside from the aforementioned "Jesus Christ", the phrase ''At my side is God'' pops up in the lyrics to "The Ballad of El Goodo" (which itself doesn't make a big deal of it, it's just a standard "nobody's gonna get me down" song), and "Try Again"'s lyrics read like they belong in a gospel tune, but the band wasn't otherwise very Christian-oriented. Well, [[Main/{{Gayngst}} except Chris...]]

+Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheRollingStones, Music/TheByrds, Music/OtisRedding, Music/SimonAndGarfunkel, Music/TheKinks, Music/MarcBolan

The band's first album, the humorously-titled ''#1 Record'', was quickly recorded at Ardent Studios with label founder John Fry as [[RecordProducer producer]] and released in 1972. While it did obtain widespread acclaim from critics, Stax's financial difficulties translated into an inability to get the album into stores, torpedoing the goal that the title playfully alluded to. The album itself nevertheless proved to be a landmark in the establishment of PowerPop, thanks to its catchy Music/TheBeatles-plus-Music/TheWho-influenced songwriting, and several of its songs have remained widely celebrated in the genre, such as "Feel", "The Ballad of El Goodo", "In the Street" (later covered by Music/CheapTrick as the theme song to ''Series/That70sShow''), and "Thirteen". Meanwhle, one other song – the chaotic, [[Music/TheRollingStones Stonesy]] rock of "Don't Lie to Me" – would predict the group's sonic evolution.

** "Thirteen" has the lyrics: ''Tell him what we said about [[Music/TheRollingStones "Paint It Black."]]''

While Big Star failed to become what their name and debut album envisioned them to be, they were eagerly embraced by the emerging AlternativeRock scene at the beginning of TheEighties - the first wave of popular alt-rock bands led by Music/{{REM}} were nicknamed "jangle pop" and owed an obvious debt to Big Star. Later on, DreamPop supergroup Music/ThisMortalCoil helped re-awaken interest in Big Star through their covers of "Kangaroo" and "Holocaust". Chilton went on to a erratic solo career, and Chris Bell put out a well-received single, "I Am the Cosmos"/"You and Your Sister" (both of which were later covered by Music/ThisMortalCoil on their album ''Music/{{Blood}}'' (1991)), before dying in a car accident in December 1978. Bell's funeral was held the next day, which happened to be Chilton's birthday. A posthumous album of Bell's post-Big Star recordings, also titled ''I Am the Cosmos'' and including both sides of the single, was released via Creator/{{Rykodisc}} in 1992.

* LiveAlbum: ''Columbia: Live at Missouri University 4/25/93'', a reunion concert in which Chilton and Stephens were joined by Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from Music/ThePosies (who would also appear on the studio album ''In Space'').

* AutoErotica: "Back of a Car" is a subversion. The narrator attempts to instill lovemaking in the car, but isn't ready to go through with it.

* LyricalColdOpen: "Back of A Car":

* MinisculeRocking: "ST 100/6" (0:58), "Morpha Too" (1:28), "I'm In Love With A Girl" (1:47), and "Downs" (1:51).

** "Thirteen" has the lyrics: ''Tell him what we said about [[Music/TheRollingStones "Paint it Black."]]''

* StudioChatter: Heard at the beginning of "She's A Mover" and "Don't Lie to Me".

Tired of the lack of success, Hummel left the band after ''City'''s release, choosing to finish his final year at college instead. Undaunted, Chilton and Stephens re-entered the studio with new RecordProducer Jim Dickinson and a group of session musicians. Plenty of material resulted from the sessions, but no label interest was forthcoming. Big Star finally threw in the towel and disbanded in late 1974, and their third album – initially titled ''3rd'' – was subsequently released in 1978. It was later reissued by Creator/{{Rykodisc}} as ''Third/Sister Lovers'' in 1992 with [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition additional tracks]]. [[AdaptationExpansion The 1992 edition has effectively supplanted the earlier version]].

With ''#1 Record'' bombing in stores thanks to Stax's horrendous distribution, [[CreativeDifferences tension and fights erupted between bandmates]], to the point that Bell left the band towards the end of 1972. Chilton, Hummel and Stephens carried on as Big Star, and – with Fry once again in the producer's chair – recorded another album, ''Radio City''. In contrast to the polished production of ''#1'', ''Radio City'' had a rawer, more chaotic and underproduced edge to it, drawing more on the Who and the Stones than the Beatles, and with more WordSaladLyrics. Sadly, ''Radio City'' bombed just as hard in stores as its predecessor, due to a dispute between Stax and its distributor Creator/ColumbiaRecords, but still managed to produce at least one classic power pop song, "September Gurls" (later covered by many artists, including Music/TheBangles). Other highlights included "O My Soul", "Back of a Car", "Daisy Glaze", and "I'm in Love with a Girl".

With ''#1 Record'' bombing in stores thanks to Stax's horrendous distribution, [[CreativeDifferences tension and fights erupted between bandmates]], to the point that Bell left the band towards the end of 1972. Chilton, Hummel and Stephens carried on as Big Star, and – with Fry once again in the producer's chair – recorded another album, ''Radio City''. In contrast to the polished production of ''#1'', ''Radio City'' had a rawer, more chaotic and underproduced edge to it, drawing more on the Who and the Stones than the Beatles, and with more WordSaladLyrics. Sadly, ''Radio City'' bombed just as hard in stores as its predecessor, due to a dispute between Stax and its distributor Creator/ColumbiaRecords, but still managed to produce at least one classic power pop song, "September Gurls" (later covered by many artists, including Music/TheBangles). Other highlights included "O My Soul", "Back of a Car", and "I'm in Love with a Girl".

With ''#1 Record'' bombing in stores thanks to Stax's horrendous distribution, [[CreativeDifferences tension and fights erupted between bandmates]], to the point that Bell left the band towards the end of 1972. Chilton, Hummel and Stephens carried on as Big Star and recorded another album with Fry once again in the producer's chair, ''Radio City''. In contrast to the polished production of ''#1'', ''City'' had a rawer, more chaotic and underproduced edge to it, drawing more on The Who than The Beatles and with more WordSaladLyrics. ''City'' bombed just as hard in stores due to a dispute between Stax and its distributor Creator/ColumbiaRecords, but still produced at least one classic power pop song, "September Gurls" (later covered by many artists, including Music/TheBangles).

Tired of the lack of success, Hummel left the band after ''City'''s release, choosing to finish his final year at college instead. Undaunted, Chilton and Stephens re-entered the studio with new RecordProducer Jim Dickinson and several session musicians. Plenty of material resulted from the sessions, but record label interest was not forthcoming. Big Star finally broke up in late 1974, and their third album ''3rd'' was finally released in 1978, and later re-released by Creator/{{Rykodisc}} as ''Third/Sister Lovers'' in 1992 with [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition additional tracks]]. [[AdaptationExpansion The 1992 edition has effectively supplanted the earlier version]].

''3rd'' served to only amplify the messy sprawl of ''City'', with its material taking a much [[DarkerAndEdgier bleaker and more desperate tone]], reflecting tensions within the band's inner circle, drug and alcohol abuse (particularly in regards to Chilton), and Chilton's dissatisfaction with years of being [[ScrewedByTheNetwork fucked around by incompetent record companies]]. ''Third'''s critically acclaimed material largely alternated between chaotic, rough power pop and bleak, haunted ballads, but it still managed to provide a few more songs judged as "classics", such as the depressing ballads "Big Black Car", "Kangaroo" and "Holocaust" and the oddball Christmas-themed power pop "Jesus Christ", which became a mainstay on college radio stations every December.

The band formed in 1971, when Chilton (former lead singer for the '60s blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops, of "The Letter" fame) joined Bell, Hummel and Stephens' band Icewater. Taking the name "Big Star" from a regional grocery store chain, they were quickly snatched up by Ardent Records, a subsidiary of the famous soul/R&B label Creator/StaxRecords. Stax had hit a bad spell and its future was uncertain, so they thought Ardent and Big Star would become successful and manage to stave off the company's decline.

The band's first album, the humorously-titled ''#1 Record'', was quickly recorded at Ardent Studios with label founder John Fry as [[RecordProducer producer]] and released in 1972. While it did obtain widespread acclaim from critics, Stax's financial difficulties translated into an inability to get the album into stores, torpedoing the goal that the title playfully alluded to. The album itself proved to be a landmark in the establishment of PowerPop thanks to its catchy Music/TheBeatles-plus-Music/TheWho-influenced songwriting, and several of its songs have remained widely celebrated in the genre, such as "Feel", "The Ballad of El Goodo", "In the Street" (later covered by Music/CheapTrick as the theme song to ''Series/That70sShow'') and "Thirteen". One song in particular, the chaotic, [[Music/TheRollingStones Stonesy]] rock of "Don't Lie to Me", would predict the group's sonic evolution.

[[caption-width-right:350:Big Star, circa 1972. Left to Right: Andy Hummel, Jody Stephens, Chris Bell, Alex Chilton.]]

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Third/Sister Lovers'' had a BaroquePop sound that was somewhere between the Left Banke and Music/TheZombies' ''Music/OdesseyAndOracle'' more than it sounded like Music/TheWho.

* StraightGay: Chris.